Cheapskate Report

Everybody's offering tips to save on dining out these days, but Miami foodist Danny Brody has a truly imaginative list of ideas on DailyCocaine that we all ought to print out and tape to the fridge, including:

9. Carry a flask. Order tap water-when no one's looking, spill out half and fill with cheap vodka.

Also, looking around for other ways to save big dining bucks, I stumbled across South Florida Dines. The deal is, you purchase a coupon on line for half the cost of its value. So, say, you buy a $20 coupon for Dave's Last Resort for $10, then hand over the coupon once you've chowed down on all the clam strips and brewskis you can stomach. Total savings: a ten-spot.

As usual with these deelios, there are quite a few restaurants on the list where you'll have to balance the cost of postprandial chili-dog cramps against your discount, particularly once you factor in the cost of Tums and Alka-Seltzer. But I typed in my zip (33460) and turned up a few goodies in a 30-mile radius, including Sushi Jo, El Chamol, Il Bellagio, Leila, and Trevini (although some of these aren't valid until after September 1).

A random search further south turned up Timpano Chop House, Japango, Giovanni's Coal Fire Pizza, Cucina D'Angelo, Dubliner, Cafe Joley, Six Tables, Dada, BlueFish, Carolina's Pizza and more -- some with discounts up to $25 and all of which I can recommend as decent eats.

Any thrifty souls out there with ideas about how to budget your restaurant habit? Post em here.